PT Practical Effects in the Prequels- Sets, Pictures, Models, etc.

Not quite sure what that picture has to do with practical effects though...

There are some nice costumes in there. But the point of this topic was to show the huge amounts of practical effects used in the prequels. This picture is an example of the exact opposite, it doesn't really fit in here.

 

Well actually this is EXACTLY where a mod told me it belongs.

 

Odd. Well, I guess there aren't any general picture topics for the PT around, so everything just gets put in here instead of making a new general pictures one that will only rarely see something new. But still, I would find it more logical if it were decided to have a topic for each instead, as it would be more in line with what the topics are about.

 

Well till then..... you know the rest.

 

Interesting pic tho. I could have sworn that was a real set. Fascinating.

 

Yeah I agree.

I would LOVE to not have to post in this thread with "behind the scenes" stills,videos and gifs of the PT and have a dedicated thread for it but the mods will not have it.

 

I mean, isn't it likely that the background keyed into the blue screen was likely a practical miniature?

 

It was, but the scene was shot in pick-ups, so the real set was no more available.

 

Much like the final scene of ROTS. Amazing how seamless this stuff is.

 

I wonder what the Flanneled One who trained as a Padawan to the Master in this video would have thought of the creative choices for special effects in the film in this video.

 

This video has one swear word in it, but it's a cool behind-the-scenes look at the filming of Duel of the Fates:

Spoiler

 

Dunno about the creative choices about special effects, but it's worth noting that Lucas did have an influence on the film. Coppola screened an early version to Lucas and Lucas suggested that Mina should decapitate Dracula. Coppola agreed and re-shot the ending three weeks before release.

 

Interesting that Lucas's own version of Dracula--Count Dooku--also ends up being decapitated.

 

I never even thought of that! (The shot of Lee retreating in the darkness after he says "It will be difficult to secure your release" is very Dracula-esque, though--clearly Lucas meant to make several Dracula references with the Count Dooku character, including the name of the character and the casting of Lee). But anyway, decapitation is the only way you can kill Dracula

If I recall correctly in the original version, Jonathan Harker decapitated Dracula, and that's that. So the decapitations itself wasn't Lucas' idea. Lucas suggested it should be Mina who decapitates him as the ultimate act of compassion, so that Dracula can die and be redeemed. That doesn't happen in the Stoker novel and is clearly a very Lucasian thing.

 

In the novel he’s impaled and decapitated as in the movie, but he never leaves the box as in the movie. In this regard, the 1977 BBC version with Louis Jourdan in a surprisingly good understated performance is more faithful to the book.

Incidentally, Lee was born to Countess Estelle Marie (née Candalini di Sarzano) and broke off his engagement with Henriette von Rosen of Sweden, daughter of Count Fritz von Rosen because of the instability of the life of an actor.

Never a real Count, in movies he was Count Dracula in 10 films, Count de Rochefort in 2 Musketeer films, and Count Dooku in 3 Star Wars films.

Returning to practical effects, unlike Lugosi he wore fangs, and his contact lenses made it difficult for him to see, so he tripped a lot.

I doubt he was involved in any practical effects in SW. But as for digital effects, those weren’t his legs in the duels on Geonosis, nor his body as he exited his ship on Coruscant or in his flip on the Invisible Hand.

 

I also have a strong feeling that Bram Stoker's Dracula was a heavy influence on the backstory of Vader in regards to Padme

 

It's possible. It's also possible that it's the other way around; that Lucas suggested Mina kill Dracula because he'd been thinking about Anakin's redemption. After all, redemption wasn't part of Stoker's original story.

(Yes, I'm aware Dracula came out several years before Lucas started to work on the prequels. But he must have started to think about this aspect way before that.)

 

The moment where Samuel L Jackson first broached the subject of having a purple lightsaber, on the Jedi Council Chamber set:

Spoiler: Reddit Autoplay

 

I hate to ruin this for anyone, but I strongly suspect this specific moment was staged. It seems a little rehearsed. They probably had a similar discussion earlier and wanted to do a little bit for the cameras.

 

Still a fun watch.

Anyway, I suspect a great deal of the “behind the scenes” material that you see in making-of documentaries, including what we see on the prequel DVDs bonus materials, is staged.

 

Still the making of those movies is documented on the DvDs very well and the insights in how they did the movies are great. It still is so illogical to me how the stupid Claim of "PT was all CGI" could be established when you had proof that it wasnt the case through those DvDs, Making Of Books, SW Insider Reports and so on.

 

Back in 1999, the fact that CGI allowed a filmmaker to create something that was not possible a few years ago was seen as a good thing, and I think the marketing over-emphasyzed the significante of CG in the prequels.
Nowadays, the opposite is true. Trying to use practical effects and real locations is considered a good thing, so they tend to sell the idea that "we didn't overuse CGI, we used practical effects".
Both things are misleading (both CGI and practical effects were used in the PT and the newer movies as well).

 

Totally! Still there were so many sources on how the movies were made. I remember TV specials and so on. So many stuff to look at to get a picture of how they not used CGI when of course that was one of the sellers because it was THE new thing how it was used with the Prequels.